As part of our ongoing coverage of the ridesharing industry, we took a closer look at the patent portfolios of Lyft and Uber, especially in light of Lyft’s confidential S-1 filing. While Lyft has not disclosed its S-1, and will likely not until prior to its roadshow, public data seems to suggest that Lyft still […]

Just a few short years ago, social media companies were frantically acquiring, and filing-for, patents as they geared up for their IPOs. The spotlight on social media and networking companies has diminished a bit recently with the emergence of new sectors and technologies that have caught the media’s attention, such as for example, cryptocurrencies, medicinal […]

Earlier this week, Facebook’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before House and Senate committees after reports that the political research firm Cambridge Analytica gained access to 87 million Facebook users’ data during the 2016 U.S. elections. During the hearings, Zuckerberg emphasized Facebook’s past and future commitment to user privacy, stating: “I’ve directed our teams to invest […]

Earlier this week, BlackBerry filed a patent infringement suit against Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp over a number of patents it owns. There has been much speculation in recent years surrounding BlackBerry’s patent monetization strategy, and questions lingered around whether the company would start to aggressively assert its patent portfolio to drive revenue. In a report […]

Jawbone, the wearable device company once valued at $3 billion, has ceased operations and begun liquidation proceedings, according to The Information. The company has been involved in a number of high-profile intellectual property disputes in recent years with Fitbit. Envision IP analyzed the patent portfolio of Jawbone’s parent company AliphCom (also known as Aliph) to […]

Lyft received its second United States patent this past June, US 9,679,489, entitled “Ride Chaining”. The patent marks the second issuance for Lyft, and the company currently has two issued patents and four published, pending patent applications. The ‘489 patent covers a system and method to efficiently utilize driver capacity, where riders with similar starting and […]

The concept of multi-account electronic credit cards, also known as smart cards or digital credit cards, have garnered much interest over the last several years. A handful of companies have entered this market, but none are currently offering cards which deliver upon this innovative, and practical, concept. Most recently, Plastc ceased operations earlier this month, and the company […]

Airbnb, the online service that allows people to lease or rent short-term lodging closed a $1 billion funding round earlier this month, valuing the company at a staggering $31 billion. Airbnb has grown, in part, due to a number of acquisitions in recent years, notably, Accoleo, CrashPadder, NabeWise, Localmind, and Tilt. Envision IP analyzed Airbnb’s patent […]

Snap’s S-1 filed last week provides further insight into the company’s patent portfolio. The S-1 states “[a]s of December 31, 2016, we had 328 issued patents and approximately 220 filed patent applications in the United States and foreign countries relating to our camera platform and other technologies. Our issued patents will expire between 2017 and […]

Over the last few years, Envision IP has reported on Uber’s patenting efforts, both through its own patent application filings, and acquisitions of patents. Until recently, Uber has dominated the patent landscape in the ride hailing/sharing industry. However, we have begun to see initial patenting activity by Lyft, which until this year, did not own […]